Method of and apparatus for filling a tube or a hose with a solid material, preferably sand

ABSTRACT

A method of and an apparatus for filling a tube or a hose with a solid material, such as sand, preferably for preparing a solid sausage-like member for coast protection or the like in which a liquid, preferably water, by a water pump or other pressure source is transported in a continuous flow through the tube or hose being fed from one end of the tube or hose and escaping partly or fully from the other end. The solid material, preferably sand, is fed to the feed line between the pump or other pressure source and the tube or hose to be filled or to the inlet end of this. The flow rate of the liquid is varied in such a manner that as the area of flow owing to sedimentation of the solid material in the tube or hose is reduced the rate of flow is still kept substantially within the range in which sedimentation of the solid material will take place.

United States Patent Larsen [54] METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FILLING ATUBE OR A HOSE WITH A SOLID MATERIAL, PREFERABLY SAND [72] Inventor:John Larsen, Odense, Denmark [73] Assignee: Fyens Saekkekom-Pagni A/S,Odense, Denmark [22] Filed: Dec. 1, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 94,099

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 3, 1969 Denmark ..6406

[52] US. Cl. ..l4l/1, 141/67, 302/15, 302/16, 302/66 [51] Int. Cl ..B65bl/04, B65b 3/04 [58] Field of Search ....l41/1, 10, 67, 68, 48; 302/14,302/15, 16, 66

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 2,725,927 12/1955 Feinerman..l41/67 2,811,178 10/1957 Cunningham ..l4l/48 1151 3,692,070 51 Sept.19, 1972 2,916,058 12/1959 Unthank 141/48 3,097,677 7/1963 Mitchell..14l/48 3,214,221 10/1965 Finnegan ..141/67 3,381,831 5/1968 Oka..302/14 3,590,888 7/1971 Coleman ..141/48 Primary Examiner-Houston S.Bell, Jr. Attorney-Waters, Roditi, Schwartz & Nissen [5 7] ABSTRACT Amethod of and an apparatus for filling a tube .or a hose with a solidmaterial, such as sand, preferably for preparing a solid sausage-likemember for coast protection or the like in which a liquid, preferablywater, by a water pump or other pressure source is transported in acontinuous flow through the tube or hose being fed from one end of thetube or hose and escaping partly or fully from the other end. The solidmaterial, preferably sand, is fed to the feed line between the pump orother pressure source and the tube or hose to be filled or to the inletend of this. The flow rate of the liquid is varied in such a manner thatas the area of flow owing to sedimentation of the solid material in thetube or hose is reduced the rate of flow is still kept substantiallywithin the range in which sedimentation of the solid material will takeplace.

7 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FILLING A TUBEOR A HOSE WITH A SOLID MATERIAL, PREFERABLY SAND The invention relatesto a method of and an apparatus for filling a tube or a hose with astony, granular, pulverulent or granulated, solid material, preferablysand, by means of a carrier medium, such as water, in which the materialis insoluble.

Filling a tube or a hose with material of the aforesaid kind is ofimportance for various purposes, in particular in the protection ofcoasts and for similar purposes in which the problem consists in fillingsand into a comparatively soft hose of comparatively great length sothat the final result is a solid sausage of a specific crosssection, forexample a circular cross-section.

For this purpose use is generally made of a sand pump which pumps sandsuspended in water into the tube or hose to be filled, the excessivewater being discharged either through an opening at the remote end ofthe hose or through its porous side walls or through both ways. Despitemany attempts to solve this problem it has hitherto not been possible tofill the hose satisfactorily and in a reasonable time.

It has been proposed to introducea feeding pipe into the tube or hose tobe filled and through the said feeding pipe to pump sand suspended inwater into the remote end of the tube or hose to be filled, subsequentlyas the tube or hose if filled withdrawing the feedingpipe therefrom.This method has been found unsatisfactory since it is inconvenient andrequires a very heavy pumping power, and, if the hose to be filled iscollapsible it is not possible to pack the sand so compactly that thedesired crosssection is obtained.

It has also been proposed to fold a hose to be filled with sand on atubular member, pulling off the hose successively as it is filled. Alsothis method is inconvenient and requires an apparatus which is operatingslowly, requires a heavy consumption of manpower and is only able tooperate on flat, non-submersed areas. The said apparatus is furthermoreonly capable of operating with very porous hoses cut into'lengths thatare limited by the length of the tubular member.

The present invention is concerned with a method in which the solidmaterial is transported by a carrier medium through the tube to befilled lying in full length so that the solid material is graduallysedimented through out the length of the tube whereas the carrier mediumis discharged substantially through an opening at the remote end of thetube or hose. It has, however, been found difficult to carry out thismethod since, if the solid material is sand and the carrier mediumwater, use has to be made of a sand pump which can only be regulatedwithin certain narrow limits, and the rate of flow through the tube orhose to be filled must not be so great that there will be nosedimentation of the solid material. If, for example, the materialinvolved is ordinary beach sand suspended in water, there will be noappreciable sedimentation if the rate of flow exceeds about 2 1/2 111per second.

In the aforesaid method it is, however, inevitable that the flow area ofthe tube or hose to be filled decreases as solid material sediments, andconsequently the rate of flow increases unless the pump may be regulatedcorrespondingly. This is, however, not the case with a sand pump, and ithas therefore been found in practice that is is impossible to fill atube or a hose with densely packed sand by this method, since after sometime a condition will arise in which the sedimentation ceases, followedby a condition in which instead of the sedimentation a removal of thematerial already sedimented takes place.

It is known to convey stony, granulated or pulverulent, solid materialthrough a piping by means of a liquid, and in the known plants of thiskind liquid is pumped through the piping by means of a liquid pump,while the solid material is subsequently introduced into the liquidflow. In these plants the aim is to convey the maximum quantity of solidmaterial to the point of destination, that is, to obtain a minimum ofsedimentation. In reality, sedimentation is not tolerated at all since asedimentation must necessarily involve a clogging of the piping orconduit and consequently the conveyance for which the plant serves isstopped. In this known art the objectis thus the exact opposite of thatwith which the present invention is concerned.

An essential feature of the invention is that a flow of the carriermedium is provided through the tube or pipe to be filled, by means of apump or other source of pressure, the solid material being added to thecarrier medium after the pump or pressure source and prior to ordirectly after its introduction into the tube or hose, the flow rate ofthe carrier medium being varied in such manner that as the area of flowowing to sedimentation of material in the tube or hose to be filled isreduced the rate of flow is still substantially within the range inwhich sedimentation will take place.

For advancing the carrier medium in this method use is made of apressure source adapted solely for this purpose so that, if the carriermedium is water, an ordinary water pump may be used. By means of thissource of carrier medium there is provided a flow through the tube orhose to be filled. To the said flow of carrier medium, for examplewater, is added the solid material, for example sand, in a desireddosage, and by regulating the flow of the carrier medium through thetube or hose it becomes possible to control the sedimentation of solidsin the hose in such manner that it is continued, even after the flowarea having become very small, so that a complete filling or packing ofthe tube or hose becomes possible.

Usually it will be convenient to carry out the method in such mannerthat the tube or hose to be filled is at first filled with a carriermedium, simultaneously with a pressure above atmospheric beingestablished which, if the hose is soft, provides and maintains thedesired cross-section, for example a circular cross-section.Subsequently, a carrier medium to which the solid material is added iscaused to flow through the hose, the said pressure being maintaineduntil the hose is completely filled with the solid particles and thusretains its form. This is specified in claim 3. The inverition alsorelates to an apparatus for carrying the said method into effect. Anessential feature of the said apparatus is that is consists of apressure pipe for the carrier medium, the said pressure pipe connectinga pump or a source of pressure with one end of the tube or hose to befilled, and a feed pipe connecting a tank for the solid material withthe pressure pipe between the pump or the pressure source and the tubeor hose to be filled or the end of the tube or hose.

Such an apparatus may consist of comparatively few and rather cheapcomponents which can easily be transported and installed at the place ofwork.

Various embodiments of the method and the apparatus according to theinvention will now be described with reference to the drawing, in whichFIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of the apparatus, viewed fromthe side, and

FIGS. 23 are the same, showing modified embodiments.

A tube or hose 1 is placed on a permanent support 2, for example the seabottom, and the tube 1 may consist of a flexible porous material, forexample woven plastic, or it may be impenetrable to water, made, forexample, of a plastic foil. The tube or hose 1 may be adapted for coastprotection and be comparatively long, say 25 m, and the presentinvention is concerned with a method of filling such a tube or hose witha solid material in granular state, more particularly sand, so that itis packed densely in the tube, and, in the case of a hose, so that aspecific cross-section is obtained.

At the extreme end of the tube or hose 1 is provided a discharge pipe 3which serves to establish a counter pressure. The discharge pipe 3 maybe directed upwards and/or be provided with regulating means, forexample valve means, by which a regulable counter pressure may bemaintained in the hose 1. The discharge pipe 3 may be in fixedconnection with the tube or hose 1, but may also be connected with thetube or hose 1 such manner that it may be detached.

- Inside the end of the tube or hose 1 is provided a feed connectingpiece 4 which is connected with a feed pipe 6 for a carrier medium, inparticular water. The feed pipe 6 is connected to a water pump P and hasfurther a side branch pipe 6' which is provided with a regulating valve.The feed pipe 6 further communicates with a feed pipe 14 for thematerial to be filled in, the said pipe being connected with a tank 8 inwhich the material is stored. In the case of coast protection thematerial will usually be sand.

The hose or tube 1 is according to the invention filled with sand in thefollowingmanner: The tube or hose 1 is usually arranged in the finalposition, for example, in a submerged position, extending at rightangles outwards from a beach, that end of the tube or hose having thepiece 4 being located on the beach. The process is initiated by pumpingwater into the tube or hose 1 by means of the water pump P, so that thesaid tube or hose, is of soft material, adopts the desired form, say, ofcircular cross-section, until a predetermined pressure Has beenestablished in the tube or hose 1, which is obtainable in variousmanner, among other by regulating the discharge opening 3. Sand issubsequently fed from the tank 8 through the pipe 14 to the pipe 6, andthe sand-mixed liquid flow is introduced into the water filled tube 1 inwhich sedimentation of the sand will take place, by which the area offlow is gradually restricted. Simultaneously with the said restriction aregulation is effected so that the rate of flow of the water carryingthe sand through the tube or hose 1 is maintained at such value that asedimentation of sand takes place. The regulation may be effected bybypassing a certain amount of liquid through the pipe 6.

Fig. 2 shows a modified embodiment using a water tank 13 instead of apump P for conveying the water,

the said water tank 13 being put under pressure by means of a compressedair tank 12. In this embodiment the pressure pipe 6 is connected withthe tank 8 for material by means of a by-pass pipe 9 which is fittedwith a valve, so that it becomes possible to introduce a larger orsmaller quantity of water into the tank 8.

The embodiment according to Fig. 3 has in addition to the connectingpiece 4 another connecting piece 5 provided on the tube or hose 1. Thetank 8 is connected with the piece 5 by a feed pipe 7 which is a doublepipe in which the interior pipe continues as a pipe 7' connected with aliquid pump P or a pressure liquid container 13 (not shown). The liquidflowing through the pipe 7 will thus carry with it the sand materialfrom the tank 8 and Pass it directly into the tube or hose 1. Thecarrier medium is, as previously described, fed through the pipe 6whichis likewise connected with a pump or pressure liquid container (notshown).

A special advantage of the method and apparatus according to theinvention is that it is easy to avoid and to overcome a blocking in theapparatus itself or in the tube or hose 1 to be filled, whichconstitutes a great difficulty in the known methods and apparatus. Inthe apparatus according to the invention any blocking can readily beeliminated by adjusting the apparatus to deliver a powerful flow of thecarrier medium without addition of solid material.

Iclaim:

1. A method of filling a tube, having a feeding inlet at one end and adischarge outlet at the other end, with stoney, granular, pulverulent orgranulated solid material, preferably sand by means of a carrier liquid,such as water, in which the material is insoluble, comprising the stepsof circulating a flow of the carrier liquid through the tube by pressurefluid means connected to said inlet, filling the tube with said solidmaterial by supply means arranged between the pressure fluid means andthe feeding inlet, simultaneously with said solid material andcontrolling the flow rate of the carrier liquid whereby the area of flowdue to sedimentation of the solid material being reduced and the rate ofthe carrier liquid being substantially within the range in whichsedimentation will take place.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the step of filling the tubewith said material is carried out after the flow of the carrier liquidis introduced through the tube.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the step ofintroducing an additional amount of carrier liquid between said pressurefluid means and said inlet for varying the flow of the carrier liquidthrough the tube.

4. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising the step ofregulating the flow of the carrier liquid through the discharge outletuntil a predetermined pressure is obtained within said tube.

5. An apparatus for filling a tube having a feeding inlet at one end anda discharge outlet at the other end, with stoney, granular, pulverulentor granulated material, preferably sand, by means of a carrier liquidsuch as water, in which the material is insoluble, comprising pressurefluid means for circulating the carrier liquid from the feeding inlet tothe discharge outlet of said tube; a pressure piping line connectedbetween said pressure fluid means and said feeding inlet of said tube; asupply source of the solid material connected to said pressure pipingline between said feeding inlet and said pressure fluid means forintroducing said solid material simultaneously with said carrier liquidinto said tube, and means adjacent said feeding inlet and said dischargeoutlet for varying the rate of flow of the carrier liquid through thetube in accordance with the existing flow area in the tube.

6. An apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein said l0

1. A method of filling a tube, having a feeding inlet at one end and adischarge outlet at the other end, with stoney, granular, pulverulent orgranulated solid material, preferably sand by means of a carrier liquid,such as water, in which the material is insoluble, comprising the stepsof circulating a flow of the carrier liquid through the tube by pressurefluid means connected to said inlet, filling the tube with said solidmaterial by supply means arranged between the pressure fluid means andthe feeding inlet, simultaneously with said solid material andcontrolling the flow rate of the carrier liquid whereby the area of flowdue to sedimentation of the solid material being reduced and the rate ofthe carrier liquid being substantially within the range in whichsedimentation will take place.
 2. A method as defined in claim 1 whereinthe step of filling the tube with said material is carried out after theflow of the carrier liquid is introduced through the tube.
 3. A methodas defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of introducing anadditional amount of carrier liquid between said pressure fluid meansand said inlet for varying the flow of the carrier liquid through thetube.
 4. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising the step ofregulating the flow of the carrier liquid through the discharge outletuntil a predetermined pressure is obtained within said tube.
 5. Anapparatus for filling a tube having a feeding inlet at one end and adischarge outlet at the other end, with stoney, granular, pulverulent orgranulated material, preferably sand, by means of a carrier liquid suchas water, in which the material is insoluble, comprising pressure fluidmeans for circulating the carrier liquid from the feeding inlet to thedischarge outlet of said tube; a pressure piping line connected betweensaid pressure fluid means and said feeding inlet of said tube; a supplysource of the solid material connected to said pressure piping linebetween said feeding inlet and said pressure fluid means for introducingsaid solid material simultaneously with said carrier liquid into saidtube, and means adjacent said feeding inlet and said discharge outletfor varying the rate of flow of the carrier liquid through the tube inaccordance with the existing flow area in the tube.
 6. An apparatus asdefined in claim 5 wherein said pressure fluid means comprises a pump,said means adjacent to the feeding inlet of the tube comprises asecondary piping line connected to said pressure piping line betweensaid supply source and said pump.
 7. An apparatus as defined in claim 5,wherein the means adjacent said discharge outlet comprises a regulableoutlet for establishing a counter pressure at the discharge end of thetubs.